{"product_id":"special-envoy-a-spy-novel","title":"Special Envoy: A Spy Novel","description":"\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eLonglisted for the 2019 International Dublin Literary Award\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA dazzling satirical spy novel, part \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eLa Femme Nikita\u003c\/span\u003e, part \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003ePink Panther\u003c\/span\u003e and part Le Carré—from one of the world’s preeminent authors\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eJean Echenoz's sly and playful novels have won critical and popular acclaim in France, where he has won the Prix Goncourt, as well as in the United States, where he has been profiled by the New Yorker and called the \"most distinctive voice of his generation\" by the Washington Post. With his wonderfully droll and intriguing new work, Special Envoy, Echenoz turns his hand to the espionage novel. When published in France, it stormed the bestseller lists.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpecial Envoy begins with an old general in France's intelligence agency asking his trusted lieutenant Paul Objat for ideas about a person he wants for a particular job: someone to aid the destabilization of Kim Jong-un's regime in North Korea. Objat has someone in mind: Constance, an attractive, restless, bored woman in a failing marriage to a washed-up pop musician. Soon after, she is abducted by Objat's cronies and spirited away into the lower depths of France's intelligence bureaucracy where she is trained for her mission.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat follows is a bizarre tale of kidnappings, murders and mutilations, bad pop songs and great sex, populated by a cast of oddballs and losers. Set in Paris, rural central France, and Pyongyang, \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eSpecial Envoy\u003c\/span\u003e is joyously strange and unpredictable, full of twists and ironic digressions—and, in the words of \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eL'Express\u003c\/span\u003e, \"a pure gem, a delight.\"\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e“\u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eSpecial Envoy\u003c\/span\u003e is an exceedingly French spy thriller.” —\u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"The New Press","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":43007325306960,"sku":"9781620973127B","price":8.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookoutlet.com\/products\/special-envoy-a-spy-novel","provider":"Book Outlet","version":"1.0","type":"link"}